Black and white photographs with architectural constructed compositions. These photographs we’re taken with an analog camera where the film was exposed two times, resulting in a great selection of graphic panoramic images reflecting the structures of the northern Antwerp docks.Thijs Koelink; Photographer, filmmaker and Art director of STUDIO AYQIDO is a true virtuoso with images, film and graphic design.

Thijs Koelink lived in the Antwerp docks for two years, an harbour area with a great international background. Browsing around in this raw industrial setting, he reinvented his photographic skills

through the experimental use of a second hand panoramic camera, using a double exposure technique with monochrome film. This resulted in a project and various exhibitions with extra-large photo prints (mounted on aluminium), accompanied by audiovisuals made in collaboration with MOK-C music and industrial soundscapes by sound designer Hanza

DOUBLE VISION

Article in Flanders Today – June 13, 2012

Dutch photographer Thijs Koelink captures Antwerp’s docklands in a monochromatic experiment. “It’s not often that the industrial backbone of the Antwerp docklands is celebrated for its beauty. Still, the way in which Dutch photographer and filmmaker Thijs Koelink captures the area in the exhibition Structures: Abstract Analog Antwerp, is undeniably elegant. The panoramic black-and-white photographs, on show in Antwerp’s new Gallery Louiza, are abstract constructions of industrial lines and graphic patterns. 

Each image is a product of a double-exposure technique the 31-year-old photographer mastered through experimentation. In a time where we’re using smartphones to filter our digital images to get fake analogue effects, the authenticity is refreshing.

“With analogue, what you get is a big surprise,” Koelink says. “You could create a similar effect digitally by setting the opacity and overlaying them. But these have been made manually, which makes them more objective and incalculable…”

Source: http://www.flanderstoday.eu/arts/double-vision

The world has always entered Antwerp via the Scheldt River. Part of the world left the metropolis via the Eilandje. The Eilandje is the oldest harbour area in Antwerp. The Red Star Line was responsible for quite a bit of activity in the harbour for more than half a century. When it disappeared and the harbour moved to the hinterland, things became quiet on the Eilandje. But now it is booming once again!

With their whole life packed in a few suitcases, millions of people sailed from Europe to America after 1800. The United States and Canada were the promised land for fortune seekers and everyone

looking for a better life. For many people, the trip to the New World began in a warehouse in Antwerp. Red Star Line ocean steamers paved the way to a new life for about two million men, women and children between 1873 and 1934.

Source: http://www.redstarline.be/en

Having the Antwerp series as a starting point, the STRUCTURES series is an ever evolving collection of abstract architectural photographs, mostly shot with a panoramic camera. Have a look at these series below.